Friday, 7 October 2011

I cannot tell you how thrilled I am with the new Cindy Sherman campaign for MAC. When I saw the pictures for the first time yesterday I actually gave a yelp of delight. MAC have been losing kudos for a while; with rumours flying that their products aren’t as good since the Estee Lauder takeover and with the rise of that enfant terrible of make-up houses, Illamasqua, they needed to do something to regain face.*

Frankly many of their recent campaigns have bored the pants off me – I’m a fully grown adult woman for fucks sake – not a little girl – and as such I don’t want Hello Kitty on my lipstick. Or sodding Wonder Woman – how utterly patronising. Treat me like a woman, not a child, thanks.

What I do want to know is how effective a product is, what I can achieve with it and, hell, I wouldn’t mind this being shown in an interesting and educational way. After all – the MAC motto is that make up is "Our medium of transformation."

Sherman was the perfect choice to lift the brand out of its little girl doldrums, famous for her own metamorphoses her art centres around transforming herself through clothing and make up, with an often provocative edge.
The campaign features the artist in three guises – an all American ingénue with a forced smile, a sad clown and a garish heiress, leopard print coat and all. None of them are pretty – they certainly aren’t looks I’ll be copying – but damn this campaign makes a point. Make up isn’t just for looking pretty and looking young, it can also be used to transform, to strengthen – make up can change us, camouflage is, even armour us.

Tuesday, 4 October 2011

Ooh, do I have a treat for you! After my deservedly glowing post on the Salux bath cloth, here, the lovely folk at Salux UK have sent me one to give to a lucky reader so that they can try this marvellous product too.

Salux cloths have been manufactured in Japan since 1969 but have only recently become available in the UK, just last month in fact! These cloths really are the best thing I have found to exfoliate in the bath and shower as they can be balled up to clean your legs and arms and then stretched out for exfoliating your back too. No need for someone to scrub you, you can do it yourself. Though of course that isn't quite as much fun....ahem.

They really do get the circulation going and smooth the skin, helping with acne, ingrown hairs, dry skin and as a great prep before fake tanning, if you like that sort of thing.

They also last ages as they dry quickly (no mouldy loofahs here folks) and are machine washable.

This really is a product that has been a revelation to me, I only use it once or twice a week but can say, completely honestly, that my skin has never looked as good or felt as smooth.

So - to the giveaway - I have for you one Salux cloth in pink, a mini showergel and a mini pot of utterly gorgeous Soap and Glory - The Righteous Butter. A perfect Salux starter kit I'd say.

So, what do you need to do to win?

Mandatory entry: Follow my blog and leave a comment below.

Want more chances to win? Additional entries:

follow @LisaSmuts on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway (including a link) and leave a comment below to confirm

Blog about this giveaway (including a link) and leave a comment below to confirm

Post this contest to your Facebook page and leave the link, with another comment here to confirm.

You have to leave separate comments for each entry. In other words, if you become a follower and tweet about the contest at the same time, leave one comment saying you're following and another saying that you tweeted it. Annoying, admittedly, but this helps me count the entries. I'm all for an easy life me.

That simple!

This contest is open to readers worldwide and will run until October 14, after that a winner will be chosen using a random number generator. The winner will be the person with the comment of the corresponding number. I will then contact the person via the email left and announce on my blog.

Monday, 3 October 2011

Now, every vintage loving gal knows the benefit of shapewear, it really is key to getting the right silhouette for all looks from the 30s to the 60s. I am not blessed with a naturally nipped in waist, in fact it really is the one part of me I'm quite unhappy about, and so when Maidenform offered to send me their waistnipper for review I jumped at the chance.

This waistnipper is the pull on style, in black satin, and is boned and elasticated to really smooth out your shape. I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of pull on shapewear, I favour long, tapered 30s style manicures and pulling on a very tight elasticated garment is always a threat to my talons. Still, it went on without too much of a struggle (it should have done, being sold as "Easy-Up") and certainly did the job well - my trousers definitely felt looser.

It isn't the most ornate or beautiful of garments but anything goes with plain black satin, however, it isn't something to wear if someone (read: someone you want to impress) is going to see it as not only is it a bit of a pain to remove with any decorum but on a slightly fuller figure such as mine it pushes the excess flesh to the top. The effect being a slight under-boob muffin top. Hot...not. Again I think this is the result of the pull on style as I don't get a similar effect with my Rago which does up with a row of hooks and eyes.

Still, it was comfortable on for a good 12 hours and didn't roll up or bunch as many cheaper shapewear items can tend to do.

Also, it sadly does not come with suspenders. Which means you either need to go bare legged, wear an additional suspender belt or, as I do, keep it for wearing with trousers.

So the good:

affordable at just £19

a good classic design if nothing fancy

actually does nip in the waist

and the bad:

pull on design

no suspenders

sizing seems a bit off

All in all it is a good basic item and definitely represents value for money, it is perfect for wearing with dresses in the summer and with trousers. The thing is that, as a sort-of vintagista, I really do prefer something that clasps at the front and has the option of being used with stockings by having removable suspender straps - but hey, you can't have everything for £19.

You can buy this product, and the rest of the Maidenform shapewear range at their website.